Franklin County spared cutbacks

Sputtering sales-tax collections, soaring demand for social services and other spillovers from the recession are crippling county budgets in Ohio and across the nation, but not in Franklin County.

Sputtering sales-tax collections, soaring demand for social services and other spillovers from the recession are crippling county budgets in Ohio and across the nation, but not in Franklin County.

Some counties are hacking jobs. Cincinnati's Hamilton County will lay off at least 530 workers. Toledo's Lucas County will cut 20 jobs to save $1.1 million.

Many plan cutbacks: Orange County, Calif., is looking to trim $60 million from its 2009 budget.

Among cities feeling the pain, Columbus plans layoffs to help erase a shortfall of almost $83 million next year.

Franklin County's position is somewhat rare these days. Its proposed 2009 operating budget would increase 3.1 percent, to $324.7 million.

Actually, discretionary spending would rise just 1.5 percent. The remainder is earmarked for savings, debt payments on projects such as the new courthouse, and the year's 27th pay period. A quirk in the calendar means there will be an extra biweekly payday next year at a cost of $5.9 million in payroll.

"We're not in the ditch like some," County Administrator Don L. Brown said. "We are in an elite group for three reasons: A sound economy relative to everyone else, strong cash reserves ($110 million), and strong management."

There's also the 2005 sales-tax increase of half a penny, to 6.5 percent. A quarter-penny of that increase began going to the Central Ohio Transit Authority at the end of 2007, but Franklin County continues to sock away the remaining $44 million a year.

But the county isn't blind to economic trends. Commissioner Marilyn Brown said county officials based next year's budget on flat sales-tax revenue, the county's prime source of income.

Hard political decisions, she said, positioned the county "to weather a crisis better than our neighbors."

Brown also credits the planning and tightfisted spending that landed the county AAA credit ratings from Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's. Only 39 counties in the U.S. are so ranked, and they also seem to have stable budgets for 2009.

The home of St. Paul, Minn., Ramsey County, will increase its budget by 3.1 percent in 2009, while St. Louis County, Mo., which is separate from independent St. Louis City, plans a 3.4 percent increase.

But in general, counties are taking a hit. Shrinking tax revenue, rising fuel costs and the Wall Street crisis "is like a triple play of bad economics that has really hurt counties," said Jim Philipps, a spokesman for the National Association of Counties.